Is Platner too “authentic”?

Summary

Today, Explained – "Is Platner too 'authentic'?"

Date: June 10, 2026
Hosts: Noel King, Sean Rameswaram
Guests: Alex Seitzwald (Mid Coast Villager), Jon Allsop (The New Yorker)

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the political rise of Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, whose candidacy has weathered numerous personal scandals. The episode analyzes why Maine voters remain loyal to Platner despite these controversies, how his "authenticity" is perceived and weaponized both locally and nationally, and the broader history and complications of political authenticity in America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Graham Platner Survives Multiple Scandals

• Opening Recap: Platner wins Maine's Democratic Senate primary with 72% of the vote despite a "diverse series of scandals": a controversial tattoo, offensive Reddit comments, sexting allegations, and accusations of violence.
• Redemption Narrative: Platner frames himself as someone on a "journey" of redemption.

  "Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It's a journey. I've made mistakes in my life...and I continue to learn from. And I'm still far from perfect." – Graham Platner (00:20)

2. Maine Voters’ Calculated Support

• Connection with Voters: Platner’s relatability and local identity resonate with Mainers, who feel overlooked by national narratives.

  "He instantly connected with people and developed this strong bond. People really related to him. And I think that helped him survive that first round of scandals..." – Alex Seitzwald (02:21)

• Pragmatism over Purity: Mainers are willing to overlook Platner’s scandals due to longstanding frustration with incumbent Susan Collins and the high stakes of Senate control.

  "We need to beat Susan Collins, the stakes are too high...we'll put aside any concerns we have with his personal life if he's our only chance..." – Alex Seitzwald (04:14)

3. Local vs. National Perceptions

• Disconnect in Narratives: The local, on-the-ground perception is more forgiving, focusing on Platner's “Maineness” and outsider appeal, while national media are more negative and speculative.

  "There's been a major disconnect between what I've seen and heard on the ground...and what the national narrative is, which is typically much more negative." – Alex Seitzwald (04:53)

• Weaponizing “from away”: Platner leverages Maine’s identity politics by characterizing negative coverage as outsiders meddling.

  "All these attacks from the New York Times or whatever outside world, don't listen to them. That's people from away trying to tell us in Maine what to do." – Alex Seitzwald (06:39)

4. Cumulative Effects of Scandal

• Voter Disappointment: Some supporters are disillusioned by the most recent allegations, feeling let down by Pla tner’s less contrite responses compared to earlier scandals.

  “One voter told me they were heartbroken about it because they really thought that he was different...” – Alex Seitzwald (07:59)

• Redemption Arc Challenged: The recency of some of Platner’s misdeeds (post-redemption) undercuts his narrative of transformation.

  "But the latest round of scandals kind of punctured that narrative because he only got married in 2023..." – Alex Seitzwald (09:18)

• Limits of Partisanship: Many Democrats will "hold their nose" to support him, but a small defection rate could sway the race back to Collins.

  "Susan Collins has a proven...ability to win split ticket voters...It would only take a small number of defections..." – Alex Seitzwald (10:54)

5. The Political Construction of 'Authenticity'

• Consultant Definition: “Authenticity” in politics often refers to candidates perceived as spontaneous, straightforward, and relatable—often with visual and cultural signifiers (e.g., beards, blue-collar imagery).

  "If someone's real self is that of a boring political nerd...that isn't generally what's considered to be authentic. Rather, it's someone who appears to be outspoken or spontaneous or an outsider..." – Jon Allsop (17:00)

• Platner’s Branding: Platner embodies this consultant-class version of authenticity—gruff, tattooed, oyster farmer—while also carrying markers of privilege and complexity.

  “He's kind of gruff and gravel voiced and macho, you know, has a big beard, has tattoos on his arms, works on a boat...” – Jon Allsop (17:45)

• Complicating Factors: His well-off upbringing and elite schooling clash with his working-class presentation, yet his embrace of personal flaws and therapy plays into another, more nuanced notion of authenticity.

  “I think he is someone who is complicated and complication...is, in some ways, you know, a claim to authenticity” – Jon Allsop (19:26)

6. The History and Evolution of Political Authenticity

• Origins: The modern fascination with authenticity is traced to Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign—presented as a trustworthy, unpolished outsider post-Watergate, using the intimacy of television.

  “Carter...had these kind of ads that were almost cinema verite...just at home...doing normal things.” – Jon Allsop (21:13)

• Superficiality vs. Substance: Over the years, authenticity became coded as a personality archetype rather than actual character; e.g., George W. Bush’s “regular guy” image despite elite heritage.
• Trump’s Disruption: Trump both amplified and shattered previous authenticity codes—hyper-authentic in persona, but also untruthful and nihilistic about the whole concept.

  “Trump was kind of both the logical endpoint of that style of politics but also kind of smashed it to smithereens...” – Jon Allsop (23:52)

• Impact on Politics: The emphasis on authenticity shapes who runs for office and how campaigns are conducted, often at the expense of policy substance.

  “It structures who gets into politics in the first place...a much broader political culture that is obsessed with quite superficial sort of image construction over policy.” – Jon Allsop (25:26)

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Memorable Quotes & Segment Timestamps

• Redemption is a journey

  “Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It's a journey. I've made mistakes in my life...and I continue to learn from. And I'm still far from perfect.”
  — Graham Platner (00:20)

• Maine’s outsider identity

  “This is the state that raised me, and this is the state that saved me.”
  — Graham Platner (06:26)

• Acknowledging personal flaws

  “As I read through them, I read things that I absolutely do not agree with...I also see the trajectory of my life…”
  — Graham Platner (08:25)

• Therapy and self-improvement

  “If there's one thing I can say, I went to therapy for years, I still go to therapy. Super helpful. It's great. More people should do it.”
  — Graham Platner (20:20)

• Disillusionment among voters

  “One voter told me they were heartbroken about it because they really thought that he was different…”
  — Alex Seitzwald (07:59)

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Timeline & Segment Guide

• 00:01–01:30 – Platner’s victory speech, summary of scandals, and Senate match-up set-up
• 02:21–06:26 – Alex Seitzwald explains Platner’s connection with Maine voters and the local/national narrative split
• 07:20–11:10 – Impact of ongoing scandals, the role of partisanship, and prospects for the general election
• 16:45–26:42 – Jon Allsop on authenticity: consultant constructions, Platner’s contradictions, and the history from Carter to Trump

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Final Takeaways

• Graham Platner’s candidacy encapsulates evolving—and often contradictory—ideas of political authenticity.
• In Maine, his local roots and straight-talking persona help deflect national media attacks, but persistent scandals risk eroding both his redemption arc and campaign viability.
• American political culture remains fixated on authenticity as both a media construct and a voter yearning, even as politicians blend image with policy and personal baggage in unpredictable ways.

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For listeners seeking an insightful, nuanced take on the intersection of scandal, character, and American politics, this episode delivers complexity, context, and memorable voices from Maine and beyond.

Transcript

[Noel King]

After winning Maine's Democratic Senate primary last night, Graham Platner thanked his parents.

[Graham Platner]

I want to thank my mom. And my dad

[Noel King]

thanked his wife.

[Jon Allsop]

Hey, me, Amy.

[Noel King]

Amy thanked the people of Maine and talked maybe a bit more than your typical politician about redemption.

[Graham Platner]

Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It's a journey. I've made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret, that I live with, that I continue to learn from. And I'm still far from perfect.

[Noel King]

Platner, who got around 72% of the vote, will run against Republican Susan Collins in November. He has so far weathered an impressively diverse series of scandals, including did he know that was Nazi imagery tattooed on his chest? And why was he sexting women who are not his wife? And was he physically violent with his exes? Maine voters decided they can live with all that. Why, though? That's coming up on TODAY Explained.

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[Jon Allsop]

Bye bye bye.

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[Noel King]

Support for Today Explained comes from ServiceNow. AI is moving fast, but without visibility, it's just chaos. Different tools, different models, different teams using AI in completely different ways. A mess service now turns that mess into control. With the AI control tower. You see all your AI across the business in one place. Oh, what it's doing, what it's done, what it's about to do. So you stay in control. To put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. You're listening to TODAY Explained. Alex Seitzwald, deputy editor of the Mid Coast Villager in Camden, Maine. What do Maine voters think about Graham Platner? You live there, you talk to people. What's the read on him?

[Alex Seitzwald]

I've been talking to Platner voters since, you know, he jumped in as this totally unknown oyster farmer in August who no one had heard of running against a two term sitting governor. And he instantly connected with people and developed this strong bond. People really related to him. And I think that helped him survive that first round of scandals in the fall with his tattoo.

[Noel King]

Platner was saying that he did not know the tattoo's resemblance to a Nazi symbol at the Time he is saying that he had the tattoo covered with a new design.

[Graham Platner]

We went to a tattoo parlor in Split, Croatia and we chose a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and, you know, skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military, military thing. And we got those tattoos and then we all moved on with our lives.

[Alex Seitzwald]

In the Reddit controversies.

[Noel King]

In other posts from 2013, he minimized challenges faced by service members in reporting sexual assault, writing, quote, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don't want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for F's sake.

[Alex Seitzwald]

And then again with this latest round, these later ones definitely hit differently. They didn't roll off his back the way the earlier ones did. There was a lot of concern, there was a lot of disappointment. But ultimately, Maine Democrats have been trying to get rid of Susan Collins and failing for so long. And they have tried running more traditional candidates and lost. And so I think they are willing to take a chance on him. It seems like a very pragmatic calculation that a lot of Maine Democrats are making right now, which is, we need to beat Susan Collins, the stakes are too high, Supreme Court, control of the Senate, everything else. And we'll put aside any concerns we have with his personal life if he's our chance, our only chance to beat Collins.

[Noel King]

You will know that outside of Maine, there is so much speculation about who Graham Platner really is. Did he really know that that tattoo on his body was a Nazi tattoo? Did he really mean what he said in those Reddit posts? And this is something that, that people speculate about wildly. I definitely hear what you're saying. It's like he's a Democrat. We want Susan Collins out. Are people in Maine speculating about who Graham Platner was really is?

[Alex Seitzwald]

Yes and no. I mean, I think there's been a major disconnect between what I've seen and heard on the ground. When I drive my daughter to school every day, I pass dozens of platinum yard signs that have been out every day for months and between what the national narrative is, which is typically much more negative.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This is not good for the Grand Platinum campaign.

[Jon Allsop]

This is a problem.

[Graham Platner]

If I were in a position to move pieces around here when this story first broke, that would have been the moment where you have a call with the governor, you have heard step back into the race and you have this candidate remove himself because his former political

[Alex Seitzwald]

director, who quit the campaign in October,

[Jon Allsop]

wrote an op ed in the Washington

[Alex Seitzwald]

Post yesterday saying that Platner should not

[Noel King]

be a U.S. senator.

[Jon Allsop]

And she wrote that his flaws as

[Noel King]

a candidate would be impossible to ignore.

[Alex Seitzwald]

So I think there are very legitimate questions about his past that a lot of Maine Democrats have been asking. But he is also just a type of guy that is very familiar in Maine. And I think a lot of people kind of felt like they could connect with him, could relate with him, even if they didn't know exactly who he is. And I think he also did a really effective job of kind of weaponizing this chip on his shoulder that Maine has about how it's viewed by the rest of the world. There's this concept of you're either a Mainer or you're from away.

[Graham Platner]

You have lifted me up, you have had my back. This is the state that raised me, and this is the state that saved me.

[Alex Seitzwald]

And he is coded as extremely main. And he was able to kind of use that to say all these attacks from the New York Times or whatever outside world, don't listen to them. That's people from away trying to tell us in Maine what to do.

[Graham Platner]

I think a lot of folks at the national level misunderstand. The reason they keep getting everything wrong is they think this is a race about me, but it isn't. This is a race about us.

[Alex Seitzwald]

And that's hitting deep in the core of a lot of. Of the main psyche.

[Noel King]

It is notable that Platner's scandals have unfolded over a long period of time. Right. So it was late May that some news reports revealed that he'd been sexting with women. He's married, of course. The New York Times then talked to some of his former girlfriends who said he had been rough with them. Others of his ex girlfriends defended him. But it's like the scandals have been rolling scandals. And it sounds like what you're saying is he's been able to push back against them with this. These are outsiders. Did the allegations in late May. I mean, I'm in D.C. not in Maine, and they felt huge to me. Are you seeing any shakiness after the most recent round?

[Alex Seitzwald]

Oh, there's definitely a lot of shakiness and a lot of concern, a lot of disappointment. One voter told me they were heartbroken about it because they really thought that he was different, that he was not a typical politician. And especially the way he responded to these. That first round of scandals with the Reddit post and the tattoo, he really took ownership.

[Graham Platner]

As I read through them, I read things that I absolutely do not agree with. I Read through and I see things that words and statements that I abhor. I also see the trajectory of my

[Alex Seitzwald]

life and it was part of this whole redemption arc that he had built about how he was a combat veteran with PTSD in a really dark place. And then he came home to Maine, got involved with his community and his business, met his now wife and was a different man.

[Graham Platner]

Coming back to Maine, moving back to my hometown, reconnecting with the community that I'm from, building real friendships, being, building real networks, real relationships with people that, that helped cut my disillusion. I went from thinking that people were bad to knowing that people are good.

[Alex Seitzwald]

But the latest round of scandals kind of punctured that narrative because he only got married in 2023. And those sex messages were, you know, from just a couple years ago. He wasn't a young man in his early 20s. And so I, I did hear a lot of disappointment about that and also a lot of cynicism from people who thought he was different, thought he was a guy that, that they could really believe, and relegating him back to, oh, he's just a politician like the rest of them. And he also, the way he responded to those. He didn't really take as much ownership.

[Graham Platner]

The Wall Street Journal, New York Times ran stories without any evidence besides the gossip from a former staffer. I'm sorry, that's, that's frankly journalistic malpractice.

[Alex Seitzwald]

And that turned some people off. But ultimately, you know, partisanship is a very powerful force. And the stakes being what they are. In a race that could tip control of the Senate, most Democrats are going to put aside their concerns, hold their nose. But, and this is a big but, and the thing to watch, I think, heading into November, Susan Collins has a proven, almost unique ability in this day and age to win split ticket voters, to get people to vote for Joe Biden at the top of the ticket and then vote for her. So it would only take a relatively small number of defections from Platner or people who have previously voted for Collins, who would now be up for grabs, vote for a Democrat. It would only take a little, a small number of them to potentially tip things back into Collins's column, especially if there are more revelations yet to come.

[Noel King]

Do you think he can win against Collins?

[Alex Seitzwald]

I do think he can win against Susan Collins. I mean, just to level set for a second, I think any Democrat would have a tough time beating Susan Collins. A lot of people look at Maine, it's New England, it's a blue state. We haven't voted for a Republican president since 1988. So they assume, you know, this is low hanging fruit. It's really not. Susan Collins is a very effective politician, proven durability. So I think this race, no matter who the Democrat was, was always gonna be a tight within the margin of error race. That said, Platner's been able to raise the money. He's been able to hold the coalition together. So far he hasn't had really despite all these scandals, any defections from elect done these enormous number of town halls. This is a small state where retail politics goes a long way and connecting with voters face to face can really make a difference. And that's not something that Susan Collins does. And in 2020, Democrats ran a squeaky clean, well qualified candidate who raised twice as much money as Susan Collins and still lost by 9 percentage points. So I think there's a willingness or almost a sense of necessity among some Maine Democrats that we have to try something different. And you know, there's a good chance we're going to lose anyway. So let's take a flyer on this guy and maybe he can do it.

[Noel King]

Alex Seitzwald of the Midcoast Villager coming up. Political consultants love authenticity. But do voters really.

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[Noel King]

We're back with Jon Allsop. He's a contributing writer at the New Yorker. All right, John. So the people calling Graham Platner authentic are largely members of a kind of consultant class. When they say that a candidate is authentic, what do the politicos mean?

[Jon Allsop]

Yeah, it's a super interesting term because it's at once something that should mean something very simple, right? That someone is real or they're who they say they are, or they sort of appear to be normal in some way, but actually it's become loaded over a period of decades, at least with a bunch of signifiers, right? So if someone's real self is that of kind of a boring political nerd who speaks in sound bites, that isn't generally what's considered to be authentic. Rather, it's someone who appears to be outspoken or spontaneous or an outsider. Someone in the classic formulation, who you'd like to grab a beer with.

[Noel King]

So those are personality traits, but with Platner, there's also some, like, visual signifiers, aren't there?

[Jon Allsop]

Yeah, absolutely. He's kind of gruff and gravel voiced and macho, you know, has a big beard, has tattoos on his arms, works on a boat on the water.

[Graham Platner]

What I love most about man of the People, I have never met people who are more hardscrabble. Even in a place that requires you to work like two or three different jobs. We have watched this state become essentially unlivable for working class people, and it makes me deeply angry.

[Jon Allsop]

You know, he's also a white guy. The concept of authenticity as a political construction has been criticized many times for being kind of racially coded as well, being easier for white candidates to pull off in a way that's legible to this consultant class. He really sort of seems out of central casting in that regard.

[Noel King]

Is Graham Platner authentic for real? For real in the way that the political class has kind of mapped onto him?

[Jon Allsop]

I certainly think he is not a 2D stereotype of the gruff working class man who, you know, is sort of been plucked from total obscurity. His grandfather was a leading architect and designer who sold these kind of quite high end tables and chairs. For example, Donald Trump actually owned a set of the chairs, which was a delightful detail, if that's the right word that I found while I was reporting this piece. You know, as has been widely covered and discussed, Platner went to a couple of elite schools. He said that one of those was with help from a, you know, from a financial aid package.

[Graham Platner]

I know that they're trying to frame me as some, like, silver spoon rich kid, but I'm sorry, like, to anybody that, like, comes down here and asks around about how I grew up and my, like, everybody in here knows it's nonsense.

[Jon Allsop]

His dad's a lawyer in Maine. Platter himself, you know, studied in D.C. worked in a bar on Capitol Hill. So not totally divorced from those circles or albeit as I mentioned earlier, I don't think really connected to them in a professional sense. And so, yeah, he's not a guy who's worked on the water his whole life. At the same time, you know, I think he is someone who is complicated and complication in someone's life is, in some ways, you know, a claim to authenticity. Right. And I think in another sense also, he stands for Authenticity. And what I see is a slightly different sense to that which is signified by the word as it's often used in political media. In that he is a guy who has lived not an unblemished life. There have been these scandals that have come out, and he sort of stands for the idea, at least to hear him tell it, that he has worked through those issues and become a better person and gone to therapy and worked on himself.

[Graham Platner]

If there's one thing I can say, I went to therapy for years, I still go to therapy. Super helpful. It's great. More people should do it. Makes you a better person, makes you all around happier. Gives you a lot more tools to engage with thoughts and feelings that you otherwise don't have tools for.

[Jon Allsop]

It's this kind of broader, I guess, sort of more romantic idea in many respects, of searching for his real self and kind of coming closer to finding it, which I think taps into sort of a different current of what is understood by authenticity than the one that the political media might. Might mean.

[Noel King]

Where do our current ideas about authenticity in politicians? Where do they come?

[Jon Allsop]

Several historians trace the idea in its modern form really to Jimmy Carter's presidential candidacy in 1970. Six years ago, as a farm boy

[Alex Seitzwald]

sitting outdoors with my family on the ground in the middle of the night, gathered close around a battery radio connected to the automobile battery, and listening to the Democratic conventions in far off cities, I was a long way from the selection process then.

[Jon Allsop]

I feel much closer to it than I. And there are several reasons for that. An important one, I think, was that it was the first presidential election after, you know, the Watergate scandal really blew up. That was obviously an episode that dented Americans trust in politicians character and integrity and honesty. And so there was more of an appetite to learn about the character of candidates. It was also, you know, television by that point wasn't new, but had become a sort of ubiquitous medium and kind of allowed for that intimacy of getting to know someone or seeming to get to know someone. And Carter sort of took advantage of that. He had this, you know, these kind of ads that were almost cinema verite in the way that he was filmed. Just sort of at home, I think, doing normal things. We need a sunshine light in Washington to open up the deliberations of executive

[Alex Seitzwald]

and legislative branches of government to the public so that we can understand what

[Jon Allsop]

decisions are made about our own lives. What went on behind those locked doors. Presented himself as, you know, a man of the South, a man who, you know, got his hands dirty on his farm.

[Graham Platner]

Jimmy Carter Knows what it's like to

[Jon Allsop]

work for a living.

[Graham Platner]

Until he became governor, he put in

[Jon Allsop]

12 hours a day in his shirt

[Graham Platner]

sleeves during harvest at his farm. Can you imagine any of the other candidates for president working in the hot August sun?

[Jon Allsop]

Just a kind of normal person who was. Yeah. Who was an outsider to D.C. in this corrupt, broken system. And I think it sort of went from there in terms of. Yeah, in terms of the signifiers we were talking about earlier, specifically post Carter, I think you see over decades this kind of same politics of trying to present yourself as this kind of outsider who speaks their mind and is, you know, an honest, reliable person who is kind of legibly all American. Even if they were very much insiders or in the case of someone like, you know, George W. Bush, the scion of a kind of Yankee elite and, you know, oil dynasty, you know, they would try and appropriate those codes for themselves. Right. Just a regular guy who sort of talks in a normal way and. And is relatable. I call upon all nations to do

[Alex Seitzwald]

everything they can to stop, stop these terrorist killers.

[Jon Allsop]

Thank you.

[Alex Seitzwald]

Now watch this drive.

[Jon Allsop]

But I think people, you know, got sick of or started to perceive or become more aware of the superficiality and fakeness of that. And I think Trump was kind of both the logical endpoint of that style of politics. But I'd also kind of smashed it to smithereens, as he has done with so many other things. On the one hand, you could kind of read him as like incredibly authentic, someone who is unconstrained, completely disinhibited, always seemingly speaks his mind, even when it's to his political detriment or the cost of things that people will say about him in polite society. And certainly a complete outsider to normal political structures. At the same time, he lied and continues to lie all the time, which is not, you know, a great thing if you're trying to use the word authenticity to describe someone. And so, yeah, I think Trump was simultaneously, you know, someone who benefited from the decades long construction of these sort of authenticity norms and at the same time benefited from telling people with a wink and a nod, these are hollow. People call me a fake or a phony or whatever, but this system doesn't work for you. And I can come in and maybe kind of out fake and phony in them and smash it to pieces. And I think in his wake, you know, he has shifted the meaning of the concept somewhat as well.

[Noel King]

You said this has been going on for generations. You cited Carter. Do you think it changes our politics? Do you think it changes ultimately who ends up in office and therefore how the United States, the sort of path that the United States ends up on.

[Jon Allsop]

I think that the way that authenticity has been constructed since Carter, which we talked about before, you know, this idea of politicians you'd rather have a beer with. Yeah. I think that has fed into a much broader political culture that is obsessed with quite superficial sort of image construction over policy. It structures, you know, who gets into politics in the first place and how those people behave during elections and then, you know, if they win in office. That being said, I think my piece was about, you know, two different connected, but different definitions of authenticity in politics. Right. This one that we've discussed, which is a construction of the consultant class, but another one that taps into, I think, a much like, longer term, more deep seated desire for people to like, connect with what they believe is real, either in themselves or in the world around them. And I kind of think there's something in that that's like an innate part of being a human. And I don't think you could sort of expunge that from politics.

[Noel King]

John allsop writes for the new yorker. Danielle hewitt produced today, and amina el saadi edited. Patrick boyd and david tadashore are our engineers. And gabriel donatov checked the facts. I'm noel king. It's today explained.